Where Everybody Knows Your (Brand) Name

Tag Archives: rachel comey

Finally. It only took 25 episodes for Diane Chambers to wear a truly likeable outfit. No pastels, no ruffles, no lace, no silk, no puff sleeves, not even a pussy bow (a certified Man Repeller) in sight.

Perhaps it can be attributed to the fact that in the finale of Season 1, Sam and Diane finally sealed the deal. Just a wee bit of sex with a man and Diane suddenly realized she wasn’t a virginal pilgrim, and could thus stop dressing like one. A chunky knit sweater, an a-line skirt, a tie belt, deep purples and reds, even a black purse. She let go of her anal-retentive stiffness and got dressed like a normal person. Finally.

All bundled up and covered in layers of wool, winter (or summer, if you’re in San Francisco like I am) can feel like a boring season for your wardrobe. Unless you have some statement outerwear pieces like Diane’s oversized red coat:

It’s easy to imagine what Diane Chambers – the eternal optimist, the feminine lace-and-puff-sleeve-loving, purple-and-pink-wearing aspiring poetess, the highfalutin Shakespeare-reading romantic – might wear on Valentine’s day (if she could ever get her unrequited love Sam Malone to commit).

Diane tends towards the delicate, the pastel, the classic black and white – anything to draw Sam’s attention away from the common hussy at the bar and towards her more refined (read: stuffy), hard-to-get (read: frigid), subtle (read: prudish) ways.

On the other hand, there’s Carla Tortelli – the eternal pessimist, the diehard Boston Red Sox fan, the aggressive and foul-mouthed single mother of four (or five or six…I know she ends up with eight but to which season each pregnancy belongs is a bit hazy), the Nike-wearing tomboy. What might she have worn on Valentine’s day if any of the three fathers of her raggamuffin brood showed up with flowers in hand?

Find Carla a Valentine’s Day-themed sneaker, sweatshirt, hair clip, diaper bag, or a heart-shaped ring that could leave a dent in a rude customer’s face, and she might just be willing to play along.

Well, we’ve made it to Episode 3, where I really started to notice just how incredible Carla’s clothes are. It’s very rare that we get to see a full body shot of Carla (she’s usually busy slinging drinks and insults), but when we do, it’s golden. Case in point: this belted rust-colored denim/multicolor-striped-tee/casual sneakers gem.

I’ll get to Carla’s (well-curated collection of) hair clips and (well-curated collection of) Nikes eventually but for now these modern alternatives do the trick: